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Bulgaria Looks Forward to Record Numbers of Romanian, Polish Tourists

Bulgaria's Black Sea resorts expect an even higher number of Romanian tourists in summer 2011, according to hotel managers.

"
Figures are already indicating that there will be a substantial growth in the number of Romanian tourists. It is another matter if this boom can compensate for the decrease in the number of tourists from other destinations,"
Ivan Portnih, CEO of Grand Hotel Varna, is quoted as saying by the Cherno More newspaper.

"
The record number of Romanian tourists has its explanation. On the one hand, the Romanian resorts have a shorter summer season. On the other, they are not as developed as the Bulgarian ones, and the prices in Bulgaria are cheaper for them,"
Portnih says, adding that a large number of Romanians, as well as Bulgarians have taken advantage of the early booking offers of the Bulgarian resorts.

In 2010, the number of Romanians on vacation in Bulgaria surpassed one million people, prompting the governments of the two countries to launch joint police patrols of the resorts and the border areas.

2011 forecasts also indicate a record number of tourists from Russia, and an increased number from Germany, while UK tourists are generally expected to be fewer than in 2010.

Portnih has especially stressed the fact that Bulgaria's tourism industry is looking forward to a "
comeback"
by tourists from Poland as well as from Hungary, who used to be regulars in Bulgaria in the communist period and in the 1990s.

"
Poland is an enormous market, and the number of Polish tourists in Bulgaria is growing each summer,"
Portnih is quoted as saying.

In his words, Bulgaria's tourism business is suffering from the lack of major highway infrastructure.

"
If the roads from Kavarna-Shabla-Durankulak (along Bulgara's northern coast – editor's note) and from Ruse to Shumen are built, the business will be revived. Romania itself has better roads that Bulgaria. The fact that the over development of the Bulgarian Black Sea coast was a mistake is another matter. Look at the Southern Bulgarian coast. The massive over development led to many resort complexes, and now that the investors are trying to sell, the prices collapsed to 400 euro per square meter, and there are no buyers,"
he explained.

The CEO of Grand Hotel Varna has pointed to the resort of St. Constantine and Helena as a good example because it is green, does not allow car traffic, its all-inclusive services are on a good level, and it provides good conditions for family tourism.

It's funny how as the years go by things change,who would have thought that a new wave of tourist from a different destination would fall in and pick up the numbers again on the coast,just goes to prove location,location,location

they are fooling themselves, to lose the uk tourists is a disaster, the holiday resorts are now charging over the top for drinks and meals, way above any holiday resort i have been to. bulgaria have relaxed rules on entry to eastern countries like russia in the hope that this will revive their income, it wont, people where ever they come from will not be ripped off and bulgaria will rip you off,the infrastructure, well there is no infrastructure, no roads thats for sure, will be there failure, sad as it is, bulgaria will fail as a tourist country, unless they conform to the eu standards but i fear they will not. the eu money is being kept and not distributed to the areas that is was designed for. bulgaria is not moving forward, not providing to the needs of the people and will fail, that is my view of my fifth year here, to live here, yes it can offer a relaxed lifestyle with until now cheap domestic bills, but for the tourist you need a lot of money. got it wrong in my opinion.

Here in Asia Minor, the Turkish government are in a hurry to make a big fuss of having the hotels 75% full with tourists, only trouble is they are nearly all Turkish and not English tourists. Welcome to the world recession Turkey, albeit a year later than everyone else!!

starlite wrote:

they are fooling themselves, to lose the uk tourists is a disaster, the holiday resorts are now charging over the top for drinks and meals, way above any holiday resort i have been to. bulgaria have relaxed rules on entry to eastern countries like russia in the hope that this will revive their income, it wont, people where ever they come from will not be ripped off and bulgaria will rip you off,the infrastructure, well there is no infrastructure, no roads thats for sure, will be there failure, sad as it is, bulgaria will fail as a tourist country, unless they conform to the eu standards but i fear they will not. the eu money is being kept and not distributed to the areas that is was designed for. bulgaria is not moving forward, not providing to the needs of the people and will fail, that is my view of my fifth year here, to live here, yes it can offer a relaxed lifestyle with until now cheap domestic bills, but for the tourist you need a lot of money. got it wrong in my opinion.

Agree with you Star - friends of ours have returned from Sunny Beach and they said everything is twice and three times the price since last year. Guess Bulgarian is not as good a deal as everyone thought

starlite wrote:

they are fooling themselves, to lose the uk tourists is a disaster, the holiday resorts are now charging over the top for drinks and meals, way above any holiday resort i have been to. bulgaria have relaxed rules on entry to eastern countries like russia in the hope that this will revive their income, it wont, people where ever they come from will not be ripped off and bulgaria will rip you off,the infrastructure, well there is no infrastructure, no roads thats for sure, will be there failure, sad as it is, bulgaria will fail as a tourist country, unless they conform to the eu standards but i fear they will not. the eu money is being kept and not distributed to the areas that is was designed for. bulgaria is not moving forward, not providing to the needs of the people and will fail, that is my view of my fifth year here, to live here, yes it can offer a relaxed lifestyle with until now cheap domestic bills, but for the tourist you need a lot of money. got it wrong in my opinion.

starlite
You have hit the nail on the head , an honest and constructive viewpoint, and you should know having been in BG for five years seeing all the changes
In my opinion they are their own worst enemy, they don't appear to look ahead of what is on offer to them. Let me give you an example:- four years ago Varna Airport was receiving flights from carriers such as Tomsons, Thomas Cook, First Choice etc and of course BA. They even turned the hanger down pass the main buildings into an arrival and departure hall, so where has all that gone, why has it gone, why have the holiday-makers who have been not gone back, they are answers that the BG Authorities need to look at if they want to survive with the western world. When will they wake up and learn from their mistakes
Why have I received requests from Russian and Polish Tour Operators and holiday advertising sites to promote our villa, is it a sign of the times in BG with the holiday trade or is it that the Eastern block have reconised a big hole in the market
I don't have the answers, do you ??

Call me pessimistic but I don't see this happening either now or in the not too distant future and the reason are all clear.

Call me pessimistic Welcome back Flower Missed you loads and loads

your not pessimists, your realists.

our friends came over recently for a week. they spent most of that holiday returning to varna car hire for new tyres due to punctures, we hardly saw them.